If the Anglo-Saxons persist... (continued)

hey, all. after the help i got in my last thread on this basic subject, i was able to get over my writer's block and wrote quite a bit for *British history in my ASB ATL, up to the dawn of the 13th century

i just wanted to ask some opinions on where i should go next (and may well just bump this thread later if it occurs to me to do so and i need further help). the point that i've gotten to now is the death of my TL's expy of Richard the Lionheart and, continuing with the Anglo-Saxon's merit system being a little dependent on a merit system i find myself at a tiny bit of an impasse (self-imposed, really) where, much like the succession crisis following Edward the Confessor both IOTL and ITTL, four different men have claims to the throne, though all of them are more or less legitimate as opposed to foreigners like in 1066. the claimants are (all expys):

  • *Richard's son, who is probably around 20 at this time but is illegitimate (and is currently unnamed)
  • *John Lackland, who ITTL did not serve as acting-King while *Richard was in the Crusades and is viewed a bit more favorably by the *British in general because of this
  • the fictional Cerdic Rotherwood, who did serve as regent due to being a loyal friend of *Richard and has been acting-King for about ten years at the time of *Richard's death (he's named after the father of the main character from Ivanhoe, which is set around this time IOTL)
  • and an as-yet unnamed expy of Arthur of Brittany, who is *Richard's favorite and officially named successor (e.g., *Arthur was endorsed by him but would still need to be chosen by the Witenagemot in order to actually be crowned)
i'm working out basic scenarios for all of them should any one of them be selected, but i'd like to hear some second opinions. of these four, which does everyone think is most likely to succeed *Richard after his death? remember, there is currently no primogeniture system in TTL's *Britain, so it doesn't necessarily have to be *John like it was IOTL
 
Ok to compared to OTL we have:
1) an elective monarchy - likely now like Bohemia's so relatives of the previous are more likely to be chosen and any firstborn sons would have to be pretty bad to be denied the throne.
2) Wittenmoot as Parliament-to-come made up of prominent nobles albeit the nobles are less autonomous and feudal vOTL.
3) nearfeudal evolution of society - obviously less feudal than OTL.
I think a large Bohemia or Poland analogue might be worth considering.

So questions to be asked are:
a) which of the late king's relatives have the most military successes?
b) which has proven administrative experience?
c) who is the Church backing?
d) what influence do foreign nobles have? ie any relatives with a claim or need to distract populace with a war for booty?
 
So questions to be asked are:
a) which of the late king's relatives have the most military successes?
b) which has proven administrative experience?
c) who is the Church backing?
d) what influence do foreign nobles have? ie any relatives with a claim or need to distract populace with a war for booty?

  • the one with the most military experience may well be *John, who's successfully fought back a few invasions against *British holdings elsewhere in Europe (remember, he's not acting-King here, and i personally imagine that there's never a situation where he revolts against *Richard because there's no primogeniture) (and remember, there are other changes to the TL that account for this rather than OTL historical precedent)
  • the administrative edge would definitely go to Cerdic, who's regent instead of *John
  • i have no idea who would be supported by the Church, but i seem to remember reading somewhere that John Lackland IOTL was close to the Papacy, and that would likely extend to TTL as well
  • *Britain is less-associated with most of the foreigners, except their allies in the Crusades and only as allies in the Crusades; this is because the OTL English conquests in the Middle Ages were because the Normans intermarried with several other families after conquering England and that drew them into conflicts with France and some other powers (and Norman conquest has been avoided ITTL)
 
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